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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2199 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

They were my views, based on a long time of shopping in Canberra and elsewhere. I have to say that I was not surprised at the response from those community meetings we had, which was the same as my view. That is a very strong view throughout the community. That is what people wanted. That is what emerged naturally through the many meetings that were held. People had strong views about the existing centres. There are documents in the files somewhere about what they do not like about them. I know that those centres are busy and packed. I was in one of them on Saturday. They are busy and they are packed. I have to give credit to the centre management, given the constraints under which they operate and under which everything has to be the darned same. They are modern, clean and well run. They are not always well run in terms of how they treat their tenants.

Another one of the aspects that came through very strongly from these meetings that I attended and from the briefings that I saw on others was that the community wanted a say not just in how it was going to be but in the continuing development of that town centre; they wanted their stake in planning to continue. It was a commercial centre, to be sure; but it was also going to be a community centre; it was going to be a centre of their social activity; and it was certainly, as came through, going to be a cultural centre. It was not simply the province of commercial enterprise. That was very important in the minds of the people who have had a long say in this development. In general terms - and I use the term "in general", not specifically in every case perhaps - this Bill seems to me to be providing the way that that can be done. That is why the Opposition is supporting it.

I have just gone through a very long process of detailing how much consultation there was prior to all this - prior to the planning, prior to the planning variations that went through. There was a great amount of consultation. I regret that that same amount of consultation has not been available as we discuss the Bill that introduces this authority. This Bill came down last Tuesday - eight days ago - and will be passed tonight. The Opposition would have liked the opportunity to take it out to the community to ask further about it. I know that they have had prior discussion; I know that they have been involved in it; but, given their commitment and their energy, I think they are owed a chance to get involved even at this stage because they are going to be part of the management subsequently. I know that we have two months away from this Assembly. I know that tenders have been called. I know the time constraints. I can say only that we really needed this Bill here some little time ago. We have gone through that.

I am sorry to put a sour note in amongst the complimentary remarks that I am making, but this Bill, I believe, delivers generally on expectations. There may be particular points which we could criticise. If we had more time maybe we could bring in some more refinements and make some more changes but, in general, it delivers what the community has asked for. I know that my speech has been mostly directed at history and what has happened in the past, but I note comments elsewhere that are of some concern. I take those on board. I take great notice of them. But let me say this: Most of the planning has already been done. I have a file in my office that is publicly available -

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